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Last week we learned that House Speaker John Boehner would resign from congress at the end of the month. This is historic considering that it is rare that a sitting House Speaker resigns partway through their term. Although his resignation came as somewhat of a surprise, it was known that he was facing a rebellion in the House of Representatives among his own party. I have never been crazy about Boehner. I didn’t like he how used extremists in his party to get back the House of Representatives, and I wasn’t surprised that they turned on him.

John Boehner became Speaker of the House almost 5 years ago. I knew he would have trouble with the Tea Party that helped give the Republicans the majority in the House of Representatives. It didn’t take more than several months for things to go wrong. In April the government narrowly avoided a shutdown. Several months later in July, we nearly defaulted on our debt which caused damage to the stock market. At the time it was reported that Speaker Boehner wanted to compromise with President Obama. Unfortunately the Tea Party refused to let Speaker Boehner accept a combination of tax increases in spending cuts as part of a deficit deal. As a result we got the Sequester.

I honestly believe that Speaker Boehner wanted to compromise while getting some of what Conservatives want. Instead he has constantly had to do political stunts to keep his speakership. (i.e. suing President Obama, shutdowns, etc.) As a result we have had a shutdown, and we nearly defaulted on our debt twice. I understand why Boehner has had enough but I wish he stood up to the crazies in his party sooner.

The latest shutdown was avoided today before the midnight deadline. Boehner’s resignation will end his career in politics but it has succeeded in averting a shutdown. This near-shutdown was caused by Republicans trying to defund Planned Parenthood over a doctored video. Getting rid of Planned Parenthood would be dangerous for women in this country.

Planned Parenthood provides medical services to many women across the country. It is misguided to go after them because a tiny fraction of what they do are abortions. It is also misguided to cause a shutdown over Planned Parenthood because we already have the Hyde amendment which prevents public funding for abortions. It sickens me that the extreme parts of the Republican Party are willing to deny women health services so that they can score political points.

The Republicans are trying to show the people of this great country that they are standing up for what they believe in. I have no doubt that they are passionate about being pro-life. Shutting down the government over Planned Parenthood shows me that most of the Republicans in government aren’t interested in governing they are interested in damaging the government unless they get everything they want. If that is their intent, then they have no business in congress or anywhere else in our government.